The Trials of Temple Life
by MrandMrsTemple
Summary: Temple family life is filled with good and bad, happiness and sadness, war and peace, just as most families are. But what's certain is that Abby and Connor stick together through it all, for better or worse.
1. Pregnancy and Birth

As the taxi wove its way through the streets of London from Heathrow airport, Connor sat fidgeting impatiently in the back.

He had just returned home from a three week long trip to Vancouver to provide assistance to the newly formed anomaly team there. The experience had been stressful to say the least. For a start, the creatures that came out of the anomalies over there seemed to have even more gruesome killing methods than the ones he had seen in England (fortunately, Evan Cross and his team seemed more than capable of dealing with them). But worse than that was being so far away from his beloved Abby for so long. The timing of the trip had been especially bad as it had happened less than a week after they'd gotten back from their honeymoon in Majorca.

But at last, Connor was home again. And now he wanted nothing more in the world than to take his wife in his arms once again and tell her he loved her and how much he missed her.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the taxi pulled up in front of their flat. Fishing a wad of pound notes out of his wallet, Connor paid the driver, took his luggage out of the boot and practically threw himself through the front door.

"Abs! Abby, I'm home baby!" he called.

"I'm in the bathroom, Con" she called back.

"Oh right. Do you want me to...give you some privacy then?" he said. "I can sit in the living room until you're ready."

"Actually, I'd quite like you to come in here."

"Alright" said Connor as he headed for the bathroom. "As long as you don't want me to fix a pipe."

"I think we'll leave that to the professionals, Connor. Don't you?"

Connor grinned. He loved his wife's sense of humour, even when she was taking the mick out of him. As he went into the bathroom, he saw her perched on the edge of the bath. Without thinking twice, he scooped her up in his arms and planted a passionate kiss right on her lips, followed by many more in quick succession.

"I love you, I love, I love you" he said between each kiss. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, Connor" said Abby. "Was the trip good."

"Yeah, not too bad" said Connor, trying as always to make light of things. "I'll tell you about it. First I-

"Actually, Connor. There's something I need to tell you first" said Abby. Connor released her from his arms and allowed her to back away a bit.

"What is it?" he asked. And then his eyes strayed to the freshly weed-on pregnancy stick that Abby was clutching in her right hand. His jaw dropped and he looked up at her with eyes wide open in wonder. He could barely believe what he was seeing.

"Abs, is it...is it..."

Abby broke out into a grin and flashed the two blue lines of the pregnancy test in front of Connor.

"Yes" she said excitedly. Connor let out a cry of sheer joy and crushed Abby to his body once again. Tears of joy trickled out his eyes and his laughter was the most wonderful sound in the world as far as Abby was concerned.

"Oh Abs, congratualtions. Congratulations. Oh my God, I can't believe it!" He pulled away from her and grinned from ear to ear. "You're gonna have a baby?" he squeaked.

"Yes" she said, smiling just as much as he was. Connor instinctively placed his hand on his wife's abdomen.

"Hello in there" he said. "You know who's talking to you right now? It's your daddy" he said.

"Con, I'm two months along. The baby won't have proper ears yet" said Abby.

"Yeah, well. It's never too late to start" he replied. He gave her another kiss.

"Oh my God, Abby. We've gotta tell everyone, everyone we know!" he cried. And the next thing Abby knew he was downstairs on the phone to everyone at the ARC telling them the good news. Listening to the excitement in his voice, she was reminded of a child telling everybody about a wonderful new Christmas present he'd been given. But Abby knew that to Connor and her, this baby was far better than any present they could ever have gotten. It was the most precious gift that either of them could have given the other. And although she knew that pregnancy would not be easy going, she wasn't afraid of it. Because she knew that through it all she would have Connor by her side, giving her support, smothering her with love and reaffirming what she had known all along: that this baby would be loved and cherished by its father.

* * *

_Seven months later_

Abby's agonised screams rang out around the maternity ward.

Three hours earlier, Abby and Connor had been sitting on the sofa watching a Star Wars movie (it was a toss up between that or one of Abby's chick flicks, and Connor had won this time). But while Connor's eyes had been transfixed on the scene where Princess Leia strangled Jabba the Hutt, Abby's had been on her very large, very round stomach. Gently, she had caressed it with one hand, imagining how things would be when it wasn't her belly she was stroking, but her baby's head when it was born.

And then, just as she thought that thought, and placed her hand on her belly for about the thirtieth time, it had happened. Something inside her gave way and suddenly the contractions began. Abby had yelped, bringing Connor out of his Star Wars induced trance. Instantly his head had spun in Abby's direction.

"Abby, what's wrong?" he had gasped. Abby had looked up at her husband, grimacing at the pain of the contraction, as she shifted towards him, she revealed a patch of moisture between her legs.

"Connor, I'm going into labour" she'd groaned. As soon as she said that, Connor had sprung straight into action. He gone straight to his and Abby's room and returned a few moments later with an overnight bag that he had been packing and unpacking almost every day for the past two weeks. Then, after throwing a towel on the damp patch of sofa, he'd immediately guided her to the car and driven her straight to the hospital.

Now she was lying on a bed in the maternity ward groaning with the effort to give birth, grimacing at the increasingly painful contractions. Next to her, Connor stood by the bed and held her hand, ignoring the pain of Abby's regular squeezings of it as she sought a way to distract herself from the agony she was in. The entire time he had encouraged her like a prize fighter, never letting her give in to the pain.

"Come on Abby. Just push. You can do this, I know you can!" Abby looked up at him with fear in her eyes.

"Connor, I'm afraid" she whimpered.

"Hey come on, babe. There's no reason to be scared. You're a trooper remember, you can deal with this easily."

"Perhaps you should try pushing a baby out through a narrow hole" said Abby in exasperation. And then in a calmer tone, she said "Connor, it's not the pain I'm afraid of. I knew it was going to be painful giving birth. There's something else."

"What's that?" asked Connor.

Abby paused for a moment as another contraction racked her body.

"Connor, I'm gonna be honest. I'm scared of being a mum."

"What? What are you scared of?"

"Connor, you know my mum was a complete witch to me and Jack. Shouting at us, locking us in our rooms, letting her boyfriends beat us up. Well, what if I'm like that? It's been proven that people who were abused by their parents become abusive parents themselves. I don't want to be like that, Con. I want this baby to have a mum who loves it and treats it nicely. But I'm just so scared that I'll end up being just as bad as my mum."

"Abby" said Connor. "You could never be like your mum. You're a kind, loving, wonderful person, and I know that you'll be an amazing mum. This baby is gonna have a mum to be proud of. There's no question about it in my mind."

Abby smiled in the interim between contractions. She knew that Connor could always say something to make her feel better.

"Thanks, Con" she said before she was seized by another bout of pain.

Watching his wife strain in agony, Connor whispered a string of encouraging words and stroked her forehead with his free hand. He'd never reveal it to Abby, especially not now when she was in labour, but he was also terrified. Not about being a dad, he was willing to jump into that with both feet, but rather of what was going on in front of him right now. Although he always tried to look on the bright side of things, several times in the past seven months, his mind had strayed to the possibility of anything that could go wrong during the birth. Abby could die, the baby could be stillborn, or worse they may both die. Connor knew he would not be able to carry on if any of those things happened. He kept telling himself he was silly to think that, that medical facilities in the UK were more than capable to keeping Abby alive during the birth, but sometimes that just wasn't enough to stop him from thinking it. And now that Abby was actually in labour, all of those fears were coming at him like a tidal wave. But he kept calm, he knew he couldn't reveal his fear to Abby. Because if she sense that he was scared, she'd lose her nerve. He needed to be strong for her, and for the baby.

"Come on, Mrs. Temple. Not much more to go now" said the midwife. "Just a couple more pushes now"

"OK" groaned Abby. When the next contraction came, she pushed. Then when the one after that came, she pushed again. She felt the baby's head being pushed out, it's shoulders hung and then after that-

"It's a boy" said the midwife. "It's a healthy little boy"

At that moment, both Abby and Connor fell apart completely. It was as if all the months of anxiety that had passed since Abby had discovered she was pregnant were suddenly drained out of them. Tears of sheer happiness cascaded down their faces as the midwife handed their new son, bundled up in blankets, to Abby. As with most newborns, he was small and slightly wrinkled, he had a round, boyish face not dissimilar to Abby's and a tuft of jet black hair like Connor's on his head. As he let out a cry in order to take his first breath, Connor had to sit down. He was that emotional.

Presently, the midwife took the baby away to clean him and give him a full check up. Ten minutes later, she came back and gave him back to Abby.

"Have you got a name for him?" she asked.

Abby looked at Connor and smiled, he smiled back at her and then they both faced the midwife.

"Nicholas" they said in unison. "Nicholas Temple. Nick for short."


	2. Year 1

The 27th of November, Nick's first birthday party.

The entire flat was well decorated for the occasion. Jess had come over early to help Abby with the decorations, tying bundles of balloons together, putting flowers into every appropriate location and as the real party piece, an enormous blue banner with the words '_One Year Old_' written in big golden letters. In fact most of the decorations in the flat were her contribution. She had even tried to put a pink ribbon around Rex's neck, but the coelurosauravus was having none of it and Jess had quickly given up. The only decorations that Abby herself had put up were a few pictures taken of her, Connor and Nick over the past year.

It had been a good year as far as she was concerned. She had stayed in the hospital for the first three days after Nick was born, during that time she'd had visits from almost all the people she and Connor knew: Matt, Emily, Jess, Becker, Lester, Connor's dad Robert. All of them were delighted with Nick and told Abby and Connor how proud they were of them both. Jack of course, didn't show up for ages even after she'd rung him to tell him he had a baby nephew. She had to call him twice more before he finally arrived, at about 6 in the morning the day after Nick was born. When he had he was clearly hungover and so Connor had taken him straight to the men's bathroom to sober up before he was allowed back in.

Apart from that however, things on the whole had gone well. Even when Nick was bawling for milk in the middle of the night, or needed his nappy changed, Abby and Connor still found the overall experience of looking after him extremely rewarding. Just looking at him with his tuft of black hair and baby-blue eyes filled their hearts with joy no matter how bad everything else seemed. Holding him in their arms made them feel even better. In fact, Connor had even gone so far as to use holding Nick as a form of therapy. Whenever there'd been a bad day at work, like the other day when a Steller's Sea Cow had blown snot and halitosis at him, the first thing he did after he'd cleaned himself up as necessary was go straight to Nick's cot, pick him up and cuddle him for a few minutes. And as he did so, all of the day's troubles just melted away before the sheer love and joy he felt when he held his son. Of course, Abby had known about the therapeutic properties of babies long before Connor had. Since giving birth to Nick, she had become a stay-at-home mum and so spent a significant portion of each day holding and playing with him. As such, she was very aware of the good feelings one could get from holding one's baby.

Now, Nick's birthday party was in full swing. It was a small crowd, made up of Abby and Connor's closest friends at the ARC: Jess, Becker, Matt, Emily and Lester. Robert and Jack had also been invited, but so far only the former had turned up and nobody really expected Jack to show. Everyone had a drink and a table of finger food was laid out for everyone to help themselves to at their leisure.

Of course, the main attraction of the party was the birthday boy himself. Nick was lying in a special carry cot and wearing a little blue romper suit. On his face he wore an enormous, happy smile, revealing the few tiny milk teeth that had come up through his gums. His blue eyes sparkled with delight and fascination at just about everything he saw around him, whether it was his godfather, Matt, smiling at him, or Rex circling above his head. Looking at how attentive their son was, Abby and Connor both felt so proud. It was early days yet, but they liked to think that Nick's awareness and interest in all around him was a sign of being a future genius, just like his father. According to Robert, Connor had been just like that at Nick's age. Evidently this was a genetic thing.

Abby went over to the carry cot and scooped Nick up. Connor stood next to her and lightly tapped on his champagne flute with a teaspoon. The ringing sound in produced caught everyone's attention and soon all eyes were on the little family.

"Ah finally, the speech" said Becker.

"Yeah" said Connor. "Uh...I'm not that great with speeches, but I...uh...I'd just like to say thank you all for coming. The past year for Abby and I has had its challenges. I mean, let's face it, being woken up four times in the night can't be described as anything other than difficult."

This brought a laugh from the audience. Abby grinned. It was so like her husband to be so unsure and silly when it came to things like this. It was one of the things she loved most about him. Nick meanwhile was paying much more attention to Rex, who was sitting on a shelf overlooking the party.

"But somehow we have both managed to get through it with our sanity intact" Connor continued. "We just want to say that we're so glad you could all make it and we hope that this year is the first of-

"Rex" a little voice interrupted. Instantly, Connor and all else present fell silent and looked at Nick. He was pointing upwards with one chubby arm and smiling at the lizard on the shelf.

"Did...did he just...?" gasped Emily.

"Nick" said Abby softly. "Did you just say something, my darling?" Nick looked at his mother, then back up at Rex.

"Rex" he said again. As if in response, the coelurosauravus chirruped, launched himself off the shelf and landed on the floor next to Abby. The baby wriggled in her arms and reached down for Rex. Gently, Abby placed Nick down and slowly he crawled over to the lizard. For a moment, they were both motionless, staring into each other's eyes. Then with a giggle, Nick reached forward and cuddled Rex.

"Rex" he gurgled for the third time. Applause broke out among all the adults and Jess took a photo with her phone. When it died down, Abby gently pried Nick off Rex and scooped him up in her arms.

"Well then" said Connor to the crowd. "I was gonna propose a toast to one year of me, Abby and Nick being a family, but I guess it'd be better to toast his first word." He raised his champagne flute high. "To Nick's first word, Rex"

"To Nick's first word!" said everyone else.


	3. Year 2

As much as they both loved their son, secretly Abby and Connor had been dreading his second year. In the months before Nick was born, they had read a lot about what was commonly known among parents as_ 'the terrible twos'_. Put simply, a child's second year of life was generally thought to be the stage when they would start to become more defiant, throw temper tantrums and be caught between clinging to their parents and trying to do things for themselves. And it was true that a few times throughout the year they had had to calm one or two tantrums from their toddler, or rather, Abby had had to calm them. Despite Connor's attempts to be a disciplinarian, he was a bit too soft for that and more often, Abby was the one who was able to follow through with the discipline. She'd had lots of practice from all those years of tending to Jack's far more numerous (and far more childish) temper tantrums.

And yet even she found it much more difficult with her own son than she did with her brother. Although she would never, ever admit it, she did sometimes feel that the love she felt for Nick, who she'd only known for two years, was greater than the love she had for Jack, who she had known for 23 years. Perhaps this was because Nick was her child who apart from the occasional moment of grumpiness, cheekiness and defiance, had given her endless joy simply by being someone that she and Connor had created, simply by being the person he was. Jack on the other hand had essentially acted as a contemptous parasite to her for the better part of their young lives. Therefore, she found it much easier to reprimand him than she did Nick.

All the same, she had followed through with the mild threats of time-outs and cofinement to the bedroom she gave to Nick on the few occasions when he'd been naughty. And as a result, he had learned good behaviour at both her and Connor's side and was for the most part, a very well behaved two year old. So all in all, _the terrible twos_ had not been as bad for them as they were for so many parents.

Now it was the weekend, and because no anomalies had been detected for the past few days, they had decided that they could afford to take Nick on a little day out to Wellington Zoo. For Abby, it was like visiting the ruins of an ancient city. Quite a bit about the zoo had changed in the years since she had joined the anomaly team. The reptile house where she had worked after dropping out of university no longer existed. Her boss, Tim Parker, had been right when he had told her that the zoo no longer had the funds to keep it going. Now all that remained of the place where Abby had been happy for the first time in her life were the two Komodo dragons, which had been moved to a seperate enclosure of their own. To see this gave her a somewhat painful feeling of nostalgia as she realised the place where she'd made some of the first happy memories she could remember no longer existed. Furthermore, when they passed the lion enclosure, she was reminded of those terrible days when the team had encountered their first future predator, which had gorged itself on one of the lions.

On a brighter note, the sea lion observation area had been redecorated, and was now covered with colourful murals of the marine mammals swimming playfully through bright blue water and swaying kelp. This pleased Abby firstly because it gave her a lot of pleasure to see Nick ooing and aahing at the pretty pictures, and secondly because they helped her to forget about the time when, in a darker observation area than this, she and Stephen had been cornered by a future predator which may have killed them had it not been for the timely arrival of Captain Ryan and his men.

But as with the unweathered golden statues in a ruined city, some things hadn't changed. Abby and Connor were now sitting on a bench by the elephant's pen and upon seeing Abby again for the first time in years, the matriarch had come straight over to her and tenderly run her trunk through her hair, just as she used to do when Abby had worked at the zoo. Now she and the rest of the herd were eagerly touching Nick with their trunks, keen to learn more about this little human who smelt a bit like Abby. Nick for his part was beside himself with joy, giggling as he patted the leathery trunks that tickled him under his chin and snaked their way down the back of his shirt.

Meanwhile, Connor wrapped his arm around Abby and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"You glad we came here, Abs?" he asked. It had actually been his idea to come to the zoo today. He had thought that it would make both Abby and Nick happy. While it had certainly worked with Nick, Abby had had a wistful, far off look in her eyes ever since she walked through the front gate.

Abby nodded and brushed a lock of stray hair that had blown into her eyes.

"Yes, Connor, I am. But it feels a bit weird being back here to be honest."

"Why? Because it's been so long?" said Connor.

"Yes" said Abby. "But also because it's made me realise just how far I've come since I was last here."

"Tell me about it" said Connor. "Fighting dinosaurs, living in the Cretaceous, dodging future predators. Bit of a departure from working at a zoo, huh?"

"Yes, and also I feel like I've changed a lot as a person" said Abby. "Back in those days I only had room for animals in my life. I didn't really like to get too close to people in case they hurt me. I certainly never, ever dreamed I'd be a mum"

"I know" said Connor. "You surprised me with that bit of info the day Nick was born."

"Anyway" Abby went on, "the point is it's like this place isn't the same one it was back then. I've changed so much, and I'm not just a lizard girl anymore. And once upon a time I wouldn't have liked that. I would have been glad to have just been a lizard girl my whole life. But now, I'm glad to be someone else, someone better than that, someone with more in their life."

"Wow, Abby" said Connor, "it's not like you to be so reflective."

Abby said nothing but merely snuggled up closer to her husband. At this moment, Connor decided to ask her a question that had been on his mind for some time.

"Abs, do you want to have another baby?" Abby sat bolt upright.

"Whoa! Now I'm the one who's surprised!" she gasped. "Where did that come from?"

"Sorry, sorry" stammered Connor. "That was stupid. I mean...Nick's still so young. He might find a little brother or sister too much to cope with right now. Plus there's our work, and the anomalies and everything like that. We can't bring another kid into the world right now. It wouldn't be right. I-

His speech was cut off by Abby placing her finger on his lips. She smiled cheekily.

"You remember what it means when I do this, don't you?" she said. Connor nodded. Abby opened her mouth to say something, but before she could get a word out there came the sound of Nick's excited squealing. Abby and Connor looked in that direction to see the matriach elephant with her trunk wrapped around Nick's waist, lifting him up off the ground.

"Mummy, Daddy, look at me" he giggled as he extended his arms, pretending that they were wings and he was flying.

The sight of their son laughing at being picked up by an elephant was certainly endearing. But at the same time, it did bring his safety into question. So while having a bit of a giggle at it, Abby and Connor went over to the pen and looked up at Nick. Abby placed her hand on the elephant's trunk.

"Hey, come on, old girl" she whispered softly. "That's enough now. Put him down."

"Aww, Mummy" said Nick as the elephant complied. As Abby wrapped her arms around her son, the elephant loosened her grip on Nick and gave his hair one last tousle before withdrawing her trunk. While Nick nuzzled up closer to Abby and buried his little face in her clothing, she turned to Connor.

"Now, where were we?" she said playfully. "Ah yes, that's right. You were talking about having another baby?"

"I'm not a baby" said Nick, his voice muffled by Abby's shirt.

"You wanna have one?" asked Connor, excited by the prospect that his wife might agree with the idea. Abby looked down at Nick for a moment and stroked his head.

"Yeah, why not?" she said. "It's fun enough having one kid. If we have another one things will be even better."

"Great" said Connor as he bent down and kissed Abby on the lips. "When do you wanna start?" A mischievous look came into Abby's eyes.

"How about as soon as Nick's in bed?" she said. "Let's do it then"

"Do what?" said Nick.

"Oh, nothing, sweetheart" said Abby, not wanting to scar Nick's brain with the details of what she and Connor planned to do after he was in bed. "Nothing at all."

But as they left the elephant pen behind, she and Connor looked at each other and winked.


	4. Year 3

**Hello readers,**

**Now be warned, this chapter is not as jolly as the ones before it, but then again that is the way of family life. You have your good days and you have your bad days. Unfortunately for the Temple family, this is one of their bad days.**

**Also, in case you haven't noticed, I've upgraded the rating of this fic to a T, the reason being that I feel just a couple of things in this chapter might be a bit unsuitable for small children. So bear that in mind when you read it.**

* * *

Connor and Abby sat in the waiting room of the hospital. Connor had his arm around Abby, who was looking down at the floor with an anxious look on her face. Connor himself was also looking worried.

For about a year now, Abby and Connor had been trying for another baby. In fact they had been trying nearly every night since that day at the zoo. But despite all this trying, they'd had absolutely no success whatsoever. So a few weeks ago, they had gone to the hospital to have a fertility test, and now they were waiting anxiously for the results.

Apart from all the usual worries that plague a potentially infertile couple (e.g. which of them was unable to concieve), there was something else that added to Abby and Connor's concerns. About two months after they had decided to try for another baby, an anomaly had opened and an agressive fungus had come through. Not _the _fungus, thank goodness, this one was from the Cretaceous. It was carried through by a sickly looking parasaurolophus -a female- who was having difficulty breathing and was bleeding quite heavily from her cloaca. Shortly after she had come through the anomaly, she had collapsed in front of the team. Abby, concerned as ever for an animal in distress, had immediately gone to its side and knelt down so as to better assess the dinosaur's symptoms. At that moment, with her dying breath, the parasaurolophus had coughed loudly all over her before her head lolled to the floor.

Being the brave soul that she was, Abby had insisted that she was fine as the rest of the team (especially Connor) fussed over her. Lester however saw fit to have Abby sent to quarantine in the infirmary immediately. And a few hours later, Abby had begun to show the same symptoms that the sick parasaurolophus had shown. She began coughing a lot, found it difficult to breathe and, most disturbing of all, started to bleed heavily from the area in between her legs. An examination of Abby's spewtom revealed that she had contracted some type of fungal disease.

The bleeding was so severe that Abby had to be monitored constantly. She was given regular antihemorraghic medication and had a great deal of blood donated to her in order to replace that which was being lost. Meanwhile the fungal spores that the doctors managed to collect from her were tested to see if a present day medicine existed that could help to cure it.

During this time, Connor was almost beside himself with worry. He had lost so many people he loved because of the anomalies, and he'd managed to move on after mourning each of those people. But he knew for a fact that there'd be no way he could move on from Abby's death. She meant way too much to him. She was his soulmate, his wife, the mother of his son. She was the one he had loved from the moment he first saw her that night in the Forest of Dean. He couldn't live without her, that was the simple truth of the matter. In the two weeks that she spent lying in the infirmary having someone else's blood pumped into her, Connor would have sat by her all the time had she not told him that if he didn't leave her to pick up Nick from preschool, give him his dinner and put him to bed, then she wanted a divorce. As for Nick, he was told that his mummy was in the hospital and was so sick that she wasn't allowed to see anyone. For a three year old, this was devastating news and on that first night, and almost all the nights that followed he had cried his eyes out whilst pining for Abby.

The sight of his little son in such a state really emphasised to Connor that he had to be strong for him. He could not allow his worry for Abby to get the better of him. So he did his best to keep Nick's spirits up by giving him his favourite foods for dinner, reading him cheerful bedtime stories and playing happy music to him in the car on the way to preschool.

At last though, a cure was found for Abby's infection. The bleeding stopped, she could breathe normally again, and once the ARC doctors had given her a final check up, she was allowed to go home again. When Nick came home from preschool and found his mother sitting on the sofa he had dropped his little book bag and practically thrown himself into her lap, squealing with delight. Abby meanwhile had crushed Nick to her body and cried tears of sheer joy at being reunited with him, after two weeks of being isolated in the ARC's infirmary, having a machine breathe for her. Rex too and flown down, perched on Abby's shoulder and gently nibbled her ear. Finally, Connor joined in and embraced his little family in an enormous hug, so glad to have them all back together again.

With Abby back home, she and Connor were quick to resume their plans of having another baby. But that was nine months ago and far from Abby's belly being nice and round once again, it was now very flat. Under normal circumstance she would have considered that a good thing, but now when she and Connor really wanted to have another child, it was one of the last things in the world she wanted to have. With any luck, the results of the fertility test should tell them what the problem was and by extension, what could be done to solve it. However, if the reason behind them not being able to concieve was what they thought it was, then they knew that there would be little, if not no hope of ever having that second baby.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the doctor called them in. He gestured at a solitary chair for Abby to sit down in. He was getting her to sit down, that was a bad sign.

"Well, doctor?" said Connor. "What's the problem?"

"Mr. Temple, Mrs. Temple" the doctor began solemnly. "I'm afraid there's no easy way for me to say what I'm about to tell you." He turned to Abby. "Mrs. Temple, you say that approximately nine months ago you had a rare fungal infection that caused you excessive bleeding in a ... certain area?"

"Yes, that's right" said Abby. That was the story that she and Connor had decided on when they realised that her infection may have to be brought up in discussions about their possible infertility.

"Well, I'm afraid that it did far more than just cause bleeding" said the doctor. "The results of your test also show that it caused permanent and significant damage to your uterus."

Abby and Connor's jaws dropped. This was just what they had both been dreading and to hear their worst fears confirmed made them feel like they had been slapped across the face.

"So...so...that means we can't..." gasped Abby, in a voice on the brink of tears.

"I'm afraid so" said the doctor in a voice that sounded like that of an executioner. "Your uterus cannot support a fertilised egg, Mrs. Temple. You cannot have anymore children."

At this point Abby collapsed into tears and buried her face in her hands. This was so unfair. She was twenty eight years old, far too young to be barren. Why had she ever gone near that dying parasaurolophus? She should have just stayed well away from it like everyone else. That's what Emily had done and look at her: still able to have children if she and Matt should decide to do so. Meanwhile, here she and Connor were with no hope of ever concieving another child again.

"I'm sorry" said the doctor sympathetically. "I'm so sorry." Connor placed his hand on Abby's shoulder and tried his best to hide his own grief at what he had just heard.

All through the car ride home, the pair of them (especially Abby) were inconsolable. They thought of all the happy times they had with Nick when he was a baby. The intimate closeness they had all felt when Abby had suckled him at her breast while Connor looked on proudly. The moment when he had said his first word: 'Rex'. The pride of when he first learned to walk. The realisation that they would never be able to relive those moments with their second baby was too awful a thing for these parents to know, and for Abby it was completely soul crushing.

As soon as Connor pulled up outside their flat, Abby got out of the car and practically ripped the door open. As Connor came inside he heard the sound of her running up to their bedroom, followed by the slamming of the door. He went upstairs and heard the sounds of her anguished weeping from within. At this point, he really wished that there was someone to blame for this. But there wasn't. His strong, beautiful Abby had been broken and it was nobody's fault, and in many ways that made things worse. It meant that there was nothing that Connor could do to help make it better, which added to his already immense feeling of helplessness. All he could do was place his head against the wood of the door, close his eyes and listen to Abby's plaintiff sobs.

"Daddy?" said a small, frightened little voice. Connor opened his eyes and turned to see Nick standing there in a simple t-shirt and shorts, clutching his favourite plush t rex and looking up at him with anxiety in his big blue eyes.

"Daddy, why is Mummy crying?" he asked.

Connor wiped a bit of moisture from his eyes, bent down and scooped up his son.

"Daddy, you're crying too" said Nick. He was an observant child and had not missed his father's eye wiping. "What's wrong?"

Connor sighed before speaking to Nick.

"Nick, Mummy and I went to the hospital today" he began.

"Why?" gasped Nick, starting to get panicky. "Is she sick again?"

"No, little mate. Calm down, she's not sick again" Connor reassured him. "We went to the hospital today because we wanted to find out if we could have another kid, like you."

"Another kid?" said Nick. No one had ever discussed the possibility of a little brother or sister with him. He knew a few children at preschool who had younger siblings but he'd never thought he might have any of his own.

"Yes" said Connor. "But the doctor told us that we couldn't have any and that's why Mummy and me are a bit upset. It's not because you did anything wrong."

"Are you and Mummy going to be alright?" Nick asked. Connor smiled. He was so proud that even at this young age, his son had the altruistic way of thinking found in all anomaly team members worth their salt. Some three year olds in his position were self-centred little brats, not unlike his Uncle Jack.

"Yeah, mate. We're gonna be alright. Me and your Mummy, we've gotten through a lot of things that were worse than this. We'll get through this too. Just don't worry about us if we seem a bit sad."

As Connor put his son back down on the floor, Nick reached forward with one hand and gently touched his father's kneecap.

"Are you sure you and Mummy are going to be alright?"

"Yes, Nick. Guarantee it" said Connor as he brushed Nick's black hair with his fingertips.

"Now, I think I'm gonna go make your Mummy a cup of tea, and then when she's feeling a bit less sad we can watch one of your Tom and Jerry videos together. How does that sound?"

"Yes! Brilliant!" said Nick excitedly, all feelings of sadness banished with a few simple words.

Despite the awful news they had recieved from the doctor today, Connor couldn't help but smile just a little bit as he made his way downstairs to the kitchen. It would take time for them to recover from the knowledge that Nick was destined to be their only child. But as long as they had him and they had each other, Connor knew that he and Abby would be able to find happiness in their family life, whatever the circumstances.


	5. Year 4

September the 1st: Nick's first day of school.

It was a day that Abby and Connor had mixed feelings about. On the one hand, it was a major milestone in their son's life and they were proud to be there as he took his first steps on a 13 year long journey through school. On the other, it almost felt like they were watching their baby grow up and become that little bit more independant, which is always difficult for parents. It was especially difficult for Abby and Connor as they were still getting over the fact that they were never going to have any more children and for them, driving Nick to his first day of school helped to remind them that they were never going to be able to experience the first day of school of any child of their's again. However, that also helped to remind them of how special this day was and that they must make the most of it.

However, while Abby and Connor had mixed feelings about Nick's first day of school, Nick himself had only one feeling: excitement! Sitting in the booster seat with his little backpack at his side, he wiggled about constantly. He couldn't wait to walk into the primary school his parents had enrolled him in, make new friends, learn new things. As Abby's mini pulled up outside the school, his eyes widened with anticipation.

"We're here! We're here!" he squealed, his little legs kicking the seat in front of his. Connor turned around and smiled at his son. He could remember being just like that on his first day of school, hungry for all the same things that Nick hungered for now. And yet he also remembered the bullying he recieved during his school days, the merciless taunts he recieved just because he was skinny and liked fossils instead of football. Although the school had seemed to have a perfectly good, safe environment when he and Abby had been to check it out, he couldn't help but worry that Nick might be subjected to the same humiliations he had recieved during his school days.

"Now remember, Nick" said Abby as she undid Nick's seatbelt. "Be nice and polite to the teacher and the other children. Be yourself, but don't talk to them too much about your toy dinosaurs. That's what your daddy did on his first day of school."

"Oi, I told you that in confidence!" said Connor jokingly.

"And most importantly" Abby went on, "have a great day today, sweetie. Your daddy and I are so happy for you."

"Don't worry, Mummy. I'll be good" said Nick as he slipped his arms through the straps of his backpack and edged his way towards the open car door. As he lowered his feet down to the ground, Connor's concern for him rose ten fold.

"You sure you don't want me to walk you inside, little mate" he called. He'd asked this question several times already and the answer had been 'no' each time. But even so, he hoped that this time his son would say 'yes', just so that he could protect him from any bullies looking for new blood to target.

"No thank you, Daddy" said Nick. "I'll be alright."

And with that he turned and hurried off towards the school building.

"Ok, great. We'll pick you up after school, mate" said Connor. "Bye"

"Bye Daddy. Bye Mummy" Nick called back, stopping briefly to wave at his parents before continuing on his way. Abby opened the front door and sat down on the seat next to Connor, who was continuing to stare at his son as he hurried further and further away from him.

"Stop worrying, Connor" said Abby. "He'll be fine. I know he will."

"You think?" said Connor.

"Yes" said Abby. "I mean, why wouldn't he be? He's every bit as smart as you are, and even if some of the other children do pick on him which I don't think they will, we'll be there to help sort it out. You need to stop thinking that he's going to have your school experience. This isn't your school, these aren't the same children. Everything is going to be alright."

"I guess you're right, Abby" said Connor as he revved the engine to head off to the ARC. "But I just can't help myself."

* * *

Nick's first day at Leymouth Wood Primary School began with lining up with a series of other children and then filing into the school building in single file as the bell for the end of playtime sounded. There, they were greeted by the headmistress, who called their names from a clipboard and told them their designated teachers and classrooms. The teachers were all standing in a row and about 20 small children were allocated to each one. Nick was placed with a tall, dark haired teacher named Miss Page, who was in charge of Class 2B.

After that, they were shown to their classroom, where each one of them was asked to come up and tell the rest of the class about themselves. What their names were, what their parents did, what pets did they have, and everything like that. Nick listened to each one very intently, more specifically, what job each child's parents did. One girl's mum went round to people's houses and tried to sell them double glazing (whatever that was). One boy's dad was a security guard (just like Uncle Becker), another's parents worked in an office. These were the sorts of jobs that other children's parents did, these children knew what their parents did for a living, Nick didn't. Of course he had tried to find out, asking his mummy and daddy over and over again what they did all day. But each time they had told him that he was too young to know and that they'd tell him when he was older. Nick wasn't scared of anything about school, except for having to admit that he didn't know what jobs his parents did. He was so worried that the other children would laugh at him for it, but he didn't know how he could avoid it. He didn't know what his parents did for a living and that was that.

Eventually, Miss Page called out his name.

"Nick. Would you like to come up and speak to the class?"

Nick swallowed nervously and pushed his chair back as he got up. Slowly he walked to the front of the classroom, then turned and addressed his classmates.

"Hello, my name is Nick. Nick Temple" he said

"Hello Nick" chorused the class.

"I am four years old" Nick went on. "I live with my mummy and daddy. I don't have any brothers or sisters. Sometimes my Uncle Jack comes to stay with us and then he makes a mess everywhere and my mummy gets angry with him because she doesn't like it when there's mess everywhere."

Some of the children giggled a bit. Nick felt his nervousness begin to wane.

"I have a lot of pets. Some of them are snakes, but most of them are lizards."

"Snakes and lizards? Interesting pets" said Miss Page.

"Thank you, Miss Page" said Nick before turning back to the class. "My favourite lizard is called Rex. He's got green skin and a crest with a red dot on it. And he can fly."

"Fly?" said Miss Page. "A flying lizard?"

"Yes" said Nick. "I know not many lizards can fly, but he can. Honest."

"Yes, yes, we believe you, Nick" said Miss Page. "What about your mummy and daddy? What can you tell us about them? What sort of jobs do they do?"

Nick looked down at the floor and fidgeted nervously for a bit. This was the question he had been dreading. But before long, he swallowed his fear and addressed the class.

"I...I don't know what jobs my mummy and daddy do" he said. A boy at the back of the classroom raised his hand to his mouth and Nick could see that he was about to snicker, so he quickly went on so as to cut him off. "I've asked them lots of times what they do, but they always tell me I'm too young and they'll tell me when I'm older."

He could not think of anything more to say on the subject. So instead he stood where he was and waited for the laughter to begin. But there was silence, and then a girl at the front of the class raised her hand.

"Yes, Rose" said Miss Page.

"So...they could be like spies?" said Rose. Nick shrugged and smiled.

"I guess" he said. At this, a wave of excited sounding whispering swept throughout the class.

"Alright, children. That's enough chattering" said Miss Page without raising her voice. "Thank you, Nick. You can sit back down now. Now, who's next? Patrick?"

As a red headed boy with freckles got up and walked to the front, Nick sat back down at his own desk and breathed a sigh of relief. He had made it through the introduction without being mocked. As Patrick began to talk about himself, Nick felt something poke him in the back. Turning around he saw it was a dark skinned boy of about his age, sitting next to a fair haired, nervous looking boy.

"Hi, I'm Paul" said the boy who had prodded Nick. "And this is Terry" he added, gesturing to the boy next to him.

"Pleased to meet you" said Terry, giving Nick an anxious handshake.

"So, are your parents really spies?" said Paul. Nick smiled. He liked where things seemed to be going.

* * *

Connor's palms were sweating as he clutched the steering wheel, and he wasn't even wearing his gloves.

Despite Abby telling him not to worry about Nick, all day he had been unable to do much else. He knew that the kids at Leymouth Wood would not necessarily be like the ones at his school, but one still heard news reports of children who did really horrible things to each other at school. The fact that school bullying was getting on to the news was surely a sign that it had gotten worse, not better, since Connor was a kid. All too often at school, he'd come out of the gates in tears after being rugby tackled on the playground, or having his lunch box stolen, or worst of all, having his head shoved down the toilet. If Nick had endured any of those things on his first day, Connor had half a mind to pull him out immediately and have him home schooled.

"Connor!" Abby's voice brought him back to reality. They were both sitting in the car outside the school gates and Abby was looking at her husband with a disgruntled look.

"Connor, I won't tell you again. Stop worrying so much about Nick!" she said

"I know, I know you've been saying it all day. But I just-

"Connor, if it'll stop you tearing your hair out, I've been worried for him too" said Abby. "I didn't exactly have a great school experience either. I didn't have a lot of friends, and the school bully always seemed to go for me at least once a week. But anyway, if you're still worried, why don't you ask him how his day went yourself. Look, here he comes now."

Connor looked out of the window and saw that Abby was right. Nick was indeed walking out of the school building towards them, flanked by two other boys his age. Bullies or friends? Connor shifted a little closer towards the window to see if he could catch the expression on Nick's face. If his son looked at all miserable, then surely his worst fears were confirmed? But then, Nick turned around and smiled at the boys next to him, who in turn smiled back. So they _were_ friends. Thank goodness.

As Nick saw his parents looking at him out of the car window, he waved to his new friends and hurried over to the car. Connor was the first to get out of the car and embrace him. He couldn't stand not knowing any longer. He had to know how his son's first day of school was.

"Hello mate" he said as he hugged Nick tightly. "How was school today?"

"Brilliant, Daddy. I've made so many new friends" said Nick, and in that instant, all of Connor's anxieties melted away. His son had been alright.

"There, see Connor? I told you it would all be fine" said Abby as she joined them. "Daddy was very worried about you today, Nick" she explained. Nick grinned.

"That's ok, Daddy" he said to Connor. "I was fine. School's so much fun! I can't wait to go back tomorrow."

Connor breathed a huge sigh of relief. He let go of Nick and opened the back door for him.

"That's great, mate." he said. "I knew you'd be alright, really."

"Oh yeah, pull the other one" said Abby. "He thought you were going to get your head pushed down the toilet today" she said to Nick.

"Eeeww, Daddy. That's gross" giggled Nick. Connor smiled. As far as Nick's innocent mind was concerned, the idea of getting your head shoved down the toilet was one of the funniest things in the world. As he got back in the driver's seat, he felt Abby's hand on his leg. He turned to see that she was smiling that cheeky smile he always loved seeing.

"So, feeling less worried now?" she said in an alluring tone. Connor's smile widened.

"Yes. So yes" he said.

"Kiss me" said Abby. "To make up for how much you've annoyed me today by worrying." Connor nodded and immediately leaned forward, his lips meeting Abby's in a passionate kiss.

"Eeww, eew, eeww" said Nick, throwing his hands up in front of his face. "Stop it. That's even more gross than toilets."

Connor pulled away from Abby, turned around and ruffled his son's hair, before revving the engine and driving off in the direction of home. It had been a long, anxious day for all the Temples, especially for him. But at last, the anxiety was over, and everything was alright.

* * *

**Hi readers. I'm so sorry this took so long, but part of the problem is a lack of ideas. As you've probably figured out by now, each chapter is chronicling an event in each year of Nick's life. If you have any ideas of what could happen to the Temples in the next few years, please leave them in the reviews section. Then maybe the next chapter won't take so long to write. Thanks a lot.**


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